Almudena Cathedral

The Santa Iglesia Catedral Metropolitana de Santa María la Real de la Almudena, known simply as Almudena Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary under the dedication of the Almudena, and episcopal seat of Madrid.

Built very close to the site of the previous and very old church of Santa María de la Almudena, which in turn was built on top of a mosque, the cathedral is dedicated to the Virgen de la Almudena, patron saint of Madrid. The name of this virgin and cathedral derive from the Arabic word al-mudayna, which means "citadel". The cathedral is located in the historic center of the city of Madrid; the main façade faces the Royal Palace, while the transept façade faces Calle de Bailén and access to the crypt is via Cuesta de la Vega, at the end of Calle Mayor. Unlike most Christian temples, with an east-west orientation, the cathedral has a north-south orientation, the result of its conception as an integral part of the Royal Palace complex.

The cathedral is the main temple of the Archdiocese of Madrid, seat of the archbishop and the metropolitan chapter. It is a building 102 meters long and 73 meters high, built from the end of the XIX century to the end of the XX, in different architectural styles: neoclassical on the outside, neo-Gothic on the inside and neo-Romanesque in the crypt.

It was consecrated on June 15, 1993 by Pope Saint John Paul II, during his fourth trip to Spain.

History

Stone sculpture of the Virgin of the Almudena, in a hornacina of the Cuesta de la Vega. According to tradition, this was the place where the image was miraculously found after the Muslim invasion.

According to legend, when King Alfonso VI of León conquered Madrid and expelled the Muslims in 1083, he became obsessed with finding a valuable icon of the Virgin Mary that centuries before had been hidden between the walls of the citadel so that it would be safely. Unable to locate the lost figure, Alfonso VI gave himself up to prayer until a section of the walls collapsed, exposing the image, still illuminated by the candles with which she had been entombed centuries before. The place of the miraculous and legendary event is marked, outside the cathedral, by a niche with a statue of the Virgin.

The origins of the Almudena Cathedral can be traced to the small church of Santa María de la Almudena, of late medieval origin, which was located a few meters from the current cathedral, which stands, according to recent excavations, on the site which was occupied by the Jewish quarter of Madrid. For centuries there were attempts to endow the aforementioned parish with greater grandeur, attempts that became more intense with the consolidation of the empire and with the establishment in the town of the headquarters of the Court. According to a report from 1567:

For the universal good of the villa and its land, it matters and has great need for a cathedral church and head of obispado.

Nevertheless, the town belonged to the Archdiocese of Toledo, the former capital of the Spanish Visigothic kingdom, which was always opposed to losing its ecclesiastical capital. Thus, attempts were made to expand and reform the small church of Santa María until its disappearance in 1868, when it was demolished to widen Calle Mayor. Finally, the need to build a new church to accommodate the cult of the patron saint of Madrid was imposed.

On April 4, 1883, King Alfonso XII laid the first stone of the new building, which would be the future cathedral of Madrid, on land that, through the mediation of Queen María de las Mercedes of Orleans, very devoted to the Virgen de la Almudena, were ceded by the Royal Patrimony in 1879.

The definitive backing for the construction was the creation of the Madrid-Alcalá diocese, by means of a bull issued by Leo XIII, on March 7, 1885. While the cathedral was being built, the old Jesuit church of the Imperial College, which At that time it was considered a collegiate church, under the invocation of San Isidro, it became the cathedral temple of the new diocese.

In 1964, Casimiro Morcillo received the title of archbishop, and the diocese of Madrid-Alcalá was elevated to the rank of archdiocese. This archdiocese was renamed the Archdiocese of Madrid in 1991, with the restoration of the Diocese of Alcalá de Henares.

The architect Francisco de Cubas, in charge of the project, reformed its initial project as a parish church, proposing an imposing neo-Gothic cathedral that followed the prevailing fashion in Europe under the influence of Viollet-le-Duc. Navascués described it as "the most important neomedieval project of Spanish architecture of the XIX century". the crypt, built in the Neo-Romanesque style, with independent access via the Cuesta de la Vega and opened for worship in 1911, once completed by Enrique María Repullés y Vargas. At that same time the first pillars were erected.

After the hiatus of the Civil War, the mayor of Madrid at the time, José Moreno Torres, commissioned the architect Luis Mosteiro to resume the works and, once again, important discrepancies arose over the architectural style.

The works were practically abandoned until 1950, the year in which Fernando Chueca Goitia and Carlos Sidro won the contest called for the completion of the works. The appearance of the temple changed then, since, although the Gothic style of the primitive project for the interior of the cathedral was maintained, the exterior would now be neoclassical, this being the appearance it currently maintains. In this way, the cathedral would integrate better with the surroundings of the Royal Palace.

Francisco de Cubas' original project for the cathedral of the Almudena.

The works continued until they came to a halt in 1965, due to a lack of funds and support from the Madrid City Council. Almost twenty years passed until, in 1984, a board of trustees was created that obtained the support of public and private institutions to finish the works. The cathedral was consecrated by Pope John Paul II on June 15, 1993, taking over from the Collegiate Church of San Isidro, which had been Madrid's provisional cathedral since 1885.

Since its opening, the Cathedral has been closely linked to the religious acts of the Spanish Royal Family. On November 8, 2000, Queen María de las Mercedes de Orleans, first wife of Alfonso XII, great promoter of the works and whose mortal remains had remained in the Monastery of El Escorial until the completion of the cathedral temple.

On May 22, 2004, the betrothal of King Felipe VI (then Prince of Asturias) with Letizia Ortiz was celebrated.

In 2005 there was an exhibition on the Immaculate Conception and Spain, organized by the Las Edades del Hombre Foundation.

On August 20, 2011, Benedict XVI became the second pope to visit the cathedral, where he presided and celebrated a mass with seminarians, as part of the events scheduled for the XXVI World Youth Day.

The Almudena Cathedral is usually the scene of some state ceremonies. It has been the setting, among many others, for the state funerals of former presidents Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo in 2008 and Adolfo Suárez in 2014.

The Almudena Cathedral is one of the most recently built Spanish cathedrals, along with the Cathedral of San Cristóbal in La Laguna de Tenerife and the Cathedral of María Inmaculada in Vitoria.

Materials

The ashlars of the plinth and the bases of the columns were made with dolomitic stone (dolomicrite) that came from the town of Baides, in the province of Guadalajara. The façade, with white tones and pink veins, is made with limestone veined micritic stones from Portugal and the most ornamental part of the portal is made with an oolitic limestone, also Portuguese. From 1911 work continued with a limestone from Novelda, province of Alicante, which has cream tones. The main portal, with its two towers, is made of granite, from Zarzalejo, in the community of Madrid. The only granite columns that the temple has, located between the two towers of this main façade, come from the quarries of the Madrid municipality of El Boalo, Cerceda and Mataelpino, where their stonemasons extracted this rock from Berroque and sculpted it in the fifties.

Description

Outside

Perhaps the most striking element outside the cathedral is the dome, which is double; Gothic seen from the inside, but with Baroque reminiscences on the outside. It presents an octagonal drum in which four large thermal holes open and a small lantern as a finish. The roof is dark slate. By way of pinnacles, twelve statues representing the apostles: Saint Philip, Saint Bartholomew, Saint Matthew, Saint Simon, Saint Jude Thaddeus, Saint James the Less, Saint Matthias, Saint Barnabas, Saint Peter, Saint James the Greater, Saint John and Saint Andrew. They are the work of the sculptor Luis Sanguino.

Main facade

Night view of the cathedral.

The main façade, towards the Plaza de la Armería, is the one located at the foot of the temple, and looks towards the south face of the Royal Palace. It consists of a large portico with a double colonnade, the lower floor being of Tuscan inspiration and the upper one of the Ionic order. This set, with a neoclassical air, was finished off after the consecration of the cathedral by a baroque niche, sheltering an image of the Virgin of Almudena. Four statues were also placed, the work of the sculptor Ramón Chaparro, representing four Spanish saints: San Isidro Labrador, Santa María de la Cabeza, Santa Teresa de Jesús and San Fernando, made of white stone from Colmenar de Oreja.

On the balcony, a ten square meter stained glass window representing the Virgen de Lis, and four statues representing the four evangelists, by the sculptor José Luis Parés.

Two large shields, also executed by the sculptor Parés, are located in the lower part of the towers, representing the full arms of the Spanish Royal House and the shield of the pope who consecrated the cathedral, John Paul II.

At the ends of the façade, in two niches, two bronze statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the work of Juan de Ávalos; finishing off the niches, two reliefs, the Delivery of the keys to Saint Peter and the Conversion of Saint Paul.

The doors are bronze. The central one has ornaments with the Trinitarian theme, commemorating the Jubilee of the year 2000; one of the sides refers to the monarchy of Spain, with effigies of the kings of the Reconquista; the other is dedicated to Latin America. They are the work of the sculptor Sanguino.

Of the two towers on this façade, the one on the right is known as Mariana or de los Gallegos, since the bells were donated by Galicians and each one of them has a traditional Marian dedication: Santa María la Real de la Almudena; Santa María de la Paloma; Santa María de Atocha and Santa María de la Flor de Lis. In the tower on the left, which overlooks Calle Bailén, is the carillon, made in Saldaña (Palencia), as are the bells Benedicta, Ancilla Domini, Magnificat and Full Gratia.

Facade of Bailén

Bronze door of the Cathedral.

This façade is the one used daily for access to the cathedral. It corresponds to the eastern part of the transept of the temple, overlooking Bailén street. In the design of this façade, a certain influence from Escorial can be seen in its monumentality and nakedness, broken only by the monumental bronze doors. These are also the work of the sculptor Sanguino.

The left side represents the discovery of the Virgin of the Almudena by King Alfonso VI of Castile, in the year 1085; the central one recalls the day of the consecration of the Cathedral by Pope John Paul II, on June 15, 1993, with images of the Kings Juan Carlos I and Sofía, Doña María de la Mercedes, mother of the King, and the then Archbishop of Madrid, Ángel Suquía; Lastly, the right side door illustrates the procession of the Virgen de la Almudena on November 9, her feast day, through the streets of Madrid. In it you can see the Cardinal-Archbishop Antonio María Rouco Varela, and the most emblematic monuments of the city. The decoration is completed with two statues of San Joaquín and Santa Ana, parents of the Virgin Mary, placed in niches at the top of the façade; both works by José Luis Parés.

In front of this façade, a square serves as a large atrium. It is commonly known as Plaza de Juan Pablo II for the statue of more than three meters that represents this pope, made by the sculptor Juan de Ávalos. The square is also adorned with four Fernandino-style fountains and lampposts. It is accessed by an imperial staircase and side ramps.

The entire complex is enclosed by bars, crowned by the bronze statues of Saint Anthony María Claret, Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint John of Ávila, the work of the sculptress Consuelo Perea.

Inside

The interior of the cathedral towards the presbytery.

The cathedral has a Latin cross plan, composed of a central nave and two lateral ones, a wide transept with three naves; curved head with ambulatory and five radial chapels. The exterior of the cathedral, in an eclectic style in which neoclassical and baroque lines predominate, contrasts with the interior, which follows the patterns of the neo-Gothic style, including polychrome stained glass windows and a clerestory.

Much of the liturgical furniture also follows this style. The main altar table is made of green marble, and is located in the center of the transept. To the right of it is the episcopal chair, with its gothic lines, carved in walnut in 1885. Behind the main altar, the presbytery is presided over by a sculpture of Christ crucified, in the Baroque style, the work of the famous image maker Cordovan Juan de Mesa (1583-1627), made in 1620 and which, like the choir stalls, comes from the Collegiate Church of San Isidro, for which it was commissioned by the Imperial College. It is a key work of the Spanish sculptural baroque, despite the fact that it had to be restored after the damage suffered during the Spanish Civil War.

The Virgin of the Almudena, patron saint of the city, has her altar in the transept of the right nave, opposite the entrance on Calle de Bailén. It is a raised altar, which is accessed by two side stairs with a bronze railing. The original sculpture, representing the Virgin with the Child in her arms, is a carved and polychrome wooden image, in the Gothic style; It is placed in the central niche of a valuable altarpiece, made by Juan de Borgoña at the end of the XV century. It is made up of eighteen tables representing scenes from the life of Jesus and Mary, with pleasant colors; the masonry and the predella are modern work, neo-Gothic style. The image of the Virgin is elevated on a silver pedestal from the XVII century, with candlesticks and splendors of the same material and period., donated by the Villa de Madrid.

Under the lowered arch formed by the stairs, is the tomb of Queen María de las Mercedes, wife of Alfonso XII, who died in 1878. Her remains were transferred there in the year 2000, fulfilling the will of the sovereign to be buried at the feet of the Virgin.

In the space of the transept, preceding the stairway, you can see an excellent sculpture representing the Fall of Jesus with the cross, known as Cristo de la Misericordia. It is a dress size, baroque, of intense realism and truthful polychromy, attributed to Juan Martínez Montañés. On the opposite side is another masterpiece of Baroque imagery, a Christ tied to the column, the work of the Neapolitan sculptor Giacomo Colombo, signed and dated on the base in the year 1698.

Outside the dome.

At the beginning of the ambulatory is the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, reserved for Eucharistic adoration, which focuses the attention of the chapel with a modern tabernacle-monstrance. Also worshiped in this chapel is the carving of the Virgen del Monte, a medieval, Gothic sculpture from the XIIIth century.

At the intersection with the transept, on the epistle side, there is a large painting, which for some time presided over the main altar of the cathedral, representing The preparations for the Crucifixion. It comes from the disappeared Madrid convent of the Capuchins of Patience, and is the work of the painter Francisco Ricci (1651), highlighting the gloomy, tense and busy atmosphere that presides over the painting, described with agile brushstrokes. It is a key work of Spanish Baroque painting and one of the most distinctive of all that the temple keeps. anatomy. In the arm of the opposite transept, you can see an altarpiece of painted tables in the Gothic style, the work of the XV-XVI, attributed to Juan González de Becerril.

The central chapel of the ambulatory is dedicated to San Isidro Labrador and his wife, Santa María de la Cabeza, whose images, Baroque polychrome carvings, attributed to Juan Villabrille y Ron (XVII-XVIII), flank the funerary chest, from the century XIII, which for a time contained the incorrupt remains of the saint (currently kept in the Collegiate Church of San Isidro). The ark is a unique work of medieval art, with various painted scenes representing passages from the life of the saint.

Central and side naves

Interior of the dome.

The roof of the central nave, unlike the lateral ones that follow the Gothic schemes (simple ribbed vault), is solved using an ingenious solution of honeycomb concrete, which allowed reducing costs and work. The pictorial decoration of this structure is geometric in nature, the work of the painter José Luis Galicia, within a style that recalls the traditional Mudejar coffered ceilings, especially in the profuse use of gold leaf and contrasting color ranges. The dome, painted by the same artist, has as its motif the four elements (earth, sea, fire and air) in its four vertices, which support the celestial vault.

The chapels in the side naves are dedicated to contemporary saints: Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, decorated with reliefs and sculpture of the saint, by Venancio Blanco; Santa María Micaela of the Blessed Sacrament; Blessed Mariana de Jesús, Mercedarian born in Madrid; Santa Maravillas de Jesús, from Madrid, Discalced Carmelite; Saint Angela of the Cross; Saint Vincent de Paul and Saint Louise de Marillac; Saint Pedro Poveda; Santa María Soledad Torres Acosta and Santa María Josefa del Corazón de Jesús. All of them are organized and decorated with images and furniture in a contemporary style for the most part. At the foot of the temple are the penitential chapel and the baptismal chapel; the latter with a simple black marble basin and an outstanding sculpture of Saint John the Baptist, the work of Robert Michel, from the 18th century XVIII. Next to the main sacristy, is the chapel of John Paul II, inaugurated by Cardinal Osoro (November 13, 2022).

The cathedral organ, located in the upper choir, at the foot of the temple, was built by the organ builder Gerhard Grenzing, and is an exceptional piece. It consists of four keyboards, plus a pedal keyboard, and has mechanical and electrical couplings: the keyboard of the outer hips has sixteen lines of tubes, the largest has eleven lines; twenty-one tube lines are for the expressive keyboard, nine for the trumpet, and the pedal adds thirteen more lines.

Interior of the cathedral, illuminated by the light coloured by the stained glass windows.

Stained glass windows and paintings in the apse

On April 28, 2004, Cardinal Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid, blessed the paintings and stained glass windows that decorate the apse of the cathedral. They were commissioned to the religious and artist Kiko Argüello.

The murals represent (from left to right): The Baptism, The Transfiguration, The Crucifixion, Christ Pantokrator, The Resurrection, The Ascension and The Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In the center of the composition, presiding over the entire cathedral, the image of the Pantokrator, represented as Jesus at his Second Coming. On the open book held by the Pantokrator is written: "Love your enemies. I'm coming soon!" These paintings are reminiscent in their general style of the traditional icons of Orthodox churches, appreciating a contemporary nuance in the details.

Above the paintings, there are seven stained glass windows dedicated to the Word or Word of God, with its name in different languages: Latin (Verbum), Greek (Logos), Hebrew (Dabar), Syriac (Melaj), Russian (Slovo) and Spanish (Word). In the center, the name of María, dedication of the cathedral. The stained glass windows, not being figurative, create a balance between the painted figures, the chromaticism of the stained glass windows and that of the ceiling in a synthesis of tradition and modernity. However, the set has been controversial, questioning its aesthetic taste and its originality and relevance.

Crypt

Columns of the crypt.

The Almudena crypt was the first structure built in the cathedral, it was erected in neo-Romanesque style, with access from the Cuesta de la Vega side. It was opened to worship in 1911, when it was finished by the architect Enrique María Repullés, who is buried in it. Contains a 16th century image of the Virgin of Almudena.

Its more than 400 columns crowned with capitals stand out, all of them different, which evoke biblical figures and motifs from nature, as well as the figure of the Osa and the Madroño, symbol of Madrid. Its façade has medieval references, with a triple door with a semicircular arch. It is presided over by an image of the Almudena, next to the Heart of Jesus and San Isidro, sheltered by an ambulatory. It has five naves, and on its sides, 18 chapels. Artists such as Benlliure, in the reliefs, or Maumejean, with stained glass windows that illuminate the chapels, have intervened in them. The decoration of the chapels mixes mosaics from the Byzantine tradition, reliefs and images of classical proportions, as well as Gothic-style stained glass windows. The votive lamps on the ceiling are inspired by the Guarrazar treasure, found in Toledo in the mid-XIX century.

Personalities buried in the Cathedral crypt include:

• His Majesty Mercedes de Orleans, Queen of Spain (1860–1878)
• His Highness Prince Fernando de Baviera (1884–1958)
• His Highness Joseph Eugene, Prince of Bavaria (1909-1966)
• His Highness Luis Alfonso, Prince of Bavaria (1906-1983)
• His Highness María de la Asunción Solange de Mesía y de Lesseps, Princess of Bavaria and Countess of Odiel (1911–2005)
• Francisco de Cubas, I Marquis de Cubas (1826–1899)
• Francisco de Cubas y Erice, II Marquis de Cubas, II Marquis de Fontalba y Grande de España (1868-1937)
• Estanislao de Urquijo y Landaluce, I Marquis de Urquijo (1817-1889)
• Estanislao de Urquijo y Ussía, III Marquis de Urquijo (1872-1948)
• Cardinal Angel Suquía Goicoechea (1916–2006)
• Fernando Rielo Pardal (1923-2004)
• Carmen Franco, first duchess of Franco (1926–2017)
• Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú, X Marqués de Villaverde (1922-1998)
• Alfonso Peña Boeuf, Spanish politician (1888-1966)
• Enrique María Repullés, architect of the crypt of the Almudena (1845-1922)
• Amparo Portilla Crespo, (1925-1996)

Museum

Inside the temple there is a museum that exhibits everything from mosaics to episcopal coats of arms and ornaments. Also, the entrance to said museum includes the ascent to the dome of the cathedral.

Dimensions

• Total length: 102 m
• Longitude of the central nave: 82 m
• Cruise length: 68 m
• Dome height to the cross: 73 m
• Height of the towers of the facade to the sailboat: 60 m
• Main ship height: 25.8 m
• Width of the main ship: 12.5 m
• Width of the lateral ships: 6 m
• Width of the chapels: 6 m
• Total area: 4800 m2

Organ

The organ is incorporated into a modern cabinet with a design inspired by Gothic altarpieces. It was built in 1999 by the builder Gerhard Grenzing. The instrument, with a total of 5,000 tubes, mostly made of tin alloy, has 70 voices in 4 manuals and pedal.

• Couplings (I): IV-II, I-II, III-II bass, III-II tiples, III 16' - II (assisted)
• Links (II): III-I, I-Ped, II-Ped, III-Ped, III 4'-Ped, IV-Ped.